Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 27 - A Voice In Her Head - II

  Kelsey was the last one left after the rest of them got picked up (or took the bus, in Steven's case).

  "I'm never gonna get into this," she groaned, while Quinn and Natalie continued their last game. Natalie had him on the ropes, trickling away cards and his general stuck in the aether. Either way, she'd probably win in just a few turns. He wouldn't have trouble resurrecting Ke'Lua, and he could still be annoying with the spirits he'd summoned, but Natalie's defense was entrenched and ready.

  "It's not that hard," said Natalie mildly, watching as Quinn's hand kept switching between his piles on his kingdom. "And it's so much fun to lure people into traps," she added, just as Quinn started to move towards one of her territories.

  "You're evil," he muttered.

  She smiled innocently, fiddling pointedly with Linnethea on her back row.

  You have him. He's got no escape. Move in.

  Not yet, she replied. He could still have a way out, if he plays it smart. And Quinn is super smart.

  "Oh man, I just got it," said Kelsey, leaning towards Natalie. She moved away as Kelsey got closer, but Kelsey didn't notice. "You turned yourself into her!" she exclaimed, pointing at the card.

  "...Kinda?" said Natalie. She ran her hand through her hair pointedly. "It wasn't on purpose, and it wasn't totally."

  "You did have the hair," said Quinn, laying out a card under his metal mine on his front row. Having a metal mine on your front's already weird, and playing cards directly to it? What's he doing?

  He's stalling. Don't fall for it. You have him.

  Natalie sighed. She double-checked the hallway, just in case, then—murmuring the spell under her breath—she flickered her hair back to the golden-blonde waves of the Huntress. Natalie held it there for a few seconds, annoyed by the extra effort, before letting it fade and uncurl to her normal straight brown.

  "Nah, you look better without it," said Kelsey firmly. "I like normal Jenny."

  "Normal Jenny?" she asked pointedly, while she moved Linnethea and her stack of elf warriors forward to her own front line forest, at the edge of her queendom.

  "Okay, new-and-improved badass Jenny." Kelsey grinned. "Your eyes are super pretty too. How'd you do that?"

  "There's stuff in your eyes," she started to explain. "It's what makes the colors—hang on," she murmured.

  "Huh?"

  "...I send my scout forward." As Quinn started to reach, Natalie kept going. "With Fleet of Foot, so she can go diagonal and skip the metal mine."

  The Elven Scout card stopped on the empty farm behind the mine. Quinn was playing a heavy economy deck, between his farms, mines and back line of markets, which let him buy and play a lot of nice cards—but also meant he was really prone to disruption, like she was about to do.

  "She pillages the farm. You can't use it next turn."

  Quinn groaned. He tossed down his cards. "You won."

  Natalie laughed. "I knew it."

  "...Wait, what? How'd you just win?" asked Kelsey, confused. She glanced between the two sides. "Doesn't he still have like two turns to bring his guy back?"

  "She'd win next turn," said Quinn. "I tried to get her to scout the mine for traps even though there's nothing there, 'cause I just put worthless stuff on it. I needed to use the farm. She realized she could just block me from playing anything next turn since I'm loaded with gold, but I couldn't play any cards without that farm open."

  "And with no cards to play, I can just walk right up to his castle and blow the whole place up with Linnethea," said Natalie. She started picking up her cards, very satisfied with herself.

  You should be. You did well. You saw the better path to victory.

  No thanks to you, she replied, annoyed.

  I can only advise. You must lead the way.

  "Okay, so I kinda get it," said Kelsey, still staring at the cards while they cleaned up each side. "I'd still rather play an MMO though."

  "I've never played one," said Natalie.

  "They're okay," said Quinn. "I don't really like them much though. I like turn-based things."

  Kelsey shrugged. "It's kinda turn-based."

  "I guess."

  She shook her head. "Okay, spill the beans now that everybody's gone. You two living together—how'd that happen?"

  Natalie's face got red hot again. She looked away. "You already know how. I texted you that night, remember?"

  "You just told me you broke in."

  "I didn't break in," Natalie shot back, annoyed.

  "Okay, snuck in, whatever." Kelsey looked between them excitedly. "Whose idea was it?"

  "My parents," said Quinn firmly, shutting her down. Natalie had warned him what Kelsey could get like, and he knew when she was going too far, like now. "They're just looking out for her. Nothing else is going on."

  "Oh." Kelsey finally noticed how Natalie was refusing to look at her, and how embarrassed they both looked. "I'm sorry..."

  "It's okay!" Natalie said quickly, turning back to her. "Just, you know... it's not really for fun or anything. It's kinda... scary, actually."

  "Scary?"

  "Not living here," she added quickly, while Quinn smirked. "Everything else, you know?"

  "Oh... yeah." Kelsey nodded. The doorbell rang. "Well, that's probably Mom. Mama never rings doorbells." She got to her feet. "Just a heads up, Jenny... Blake's been saying some stuff at school."

  "Stuff like what?" she asked, surprised. She hadn't even thought about Blake or her sidekick in over a month now.

  "Gossippy crap." Kelsey shook her head. "Just ignore it, it's all dumb."

  Natalie nodded. "I don't care anyway. I've already got great friends, I don't care what the rest of the school says."

  Kelsey grinned. "Yeah you do. Besides, I bet nobody pays attention to her anyway. It's just her and her stupid little friend Lydia." She hurried to the door as the bell rang again. "See you tomorrow!"